Monthly Archives: November 2015

To pray is to connect with God through conversation. Like in the Psalms, it can be about anything–temptation, sin, fear, disappointment, blessings, relationships, the future, etc.

Some of the aforementioned topics are very personal, things that may be better off just mentioned between you and God.

But when can it be appropriate and even beneficial to pray with someone?

I’ve been in a lot of situations when I could easily pray with others. One of these situations occurred with a counsellor at a Christian camp; another occurred with a pastor at church. The topics were very diverse, but every situation held one common theme: the need to seek help from God.

I used to think that it was awkward to pray with someone. So I only prayed by myself. But sometimes, when I really needed to just talk to someone, they asked me if they could pray for me.

One example happened just a few weeks ago when I was having a conversation with someone at church. I was struggling with frustration from insecurities, and when I explained everything, he asked if he could pray for me. Of course, I said yes. When he prayed for me, I felt the spirit move me to add to the prayer. With both of us praying, not only was our faith strengthened, but our friendship was strengthened as well.

God asks for personal prayer time. He also answers prayers by giving us people to pray with, binding us together in faith. The best people to pray with are people who share our faith, people we either know very well or people from our church who offer prayer.

My faith journey has been like a road frequently under construction. God was, and still is, the main worker. My biological parents started my road. But God knew that they weren’t fit to work on it for the rest of my life. So he sent two new construction workers–my adopted parents.

These parents loved children and loved God. They wanted to work on the road that God created for me. In fact, they were fit enough (and very much wanted) to work on several roads–the roads of my five siblings.

All of our roads, new and smooth at our adoptions, have been altered over time–expanded, broken, fixed. We met more construction workers, people who helped us grow in faith–Sunday school teachers, church friends, Christian camp counsellors.

While I witnessed others’ roads being worked on, I experienced the work of my own. After having been developmentally delayed, I had help from many professionals–ear doctors, eye doctors, psychological therapists, speech therapists, special education teachers.

Time after time, my road endured potholes. Insults, rejection, broken friendships, broken trust. At these times, I questioned God. Thus, I questioned His construction and team of workers. Were they really working on this road? Did they really care? I got angry, sometimes feeling that they were making it worse.

The biggest pothole happened to myself and all of my siblings–our father died. We were one construction worker short, one pothole larger and deeper. I didn’t think it would be possible to fix this. I thought everyone would leave. At times, I wondered where God was in all of this.

But even after this pothole, the biggest one of my life, the road didn’t remain in the same condition. God kept working. His team kept working. He added more and more workers to help the road improve.

Although the road is still not perfect, the potholes are smaller, some of them even disappearing. While my road may endure more potholes, I have faith that they will be fixed.

Today, God works on my road while making me a contributing part of his construction team.